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THE IMPORTANCE OF HABIT CHANGE

The biggest mistake people make when looking to improve their health and energy is what I call the “more knowledge epidemic”. You can get tricked into thinking more knowledge is the answer.

After all access to information has never been easier. You can read magazines, self-help books, go on courses, watch YouTube videos and so on, but increasing your knowledge will not in itself improve your health and energy.

You have to bridge the gap between knowing something and living it by taking that knowledge and turning it into daily and weekly habits in real life.

It is only when your knowledge has been translated into your habits that you will see your health and energy improve.

The next step on from this is to deepen your practice of the new habit you have put in place. It can be very easy to put a new habit in place only to find that three months later you are just going through the motions and not really creating powerful change in your life.

Exercise is a good example of this. Some people exercise 5 times a week yet see no change in their body shape or energy, the reason being that they are just going through the motions.

This focus and commitment of deepening the practice of your habits is a continuous journey of self-improvement.

THE 4 STAGES OF HABIT CHANGE

So let’s look at the example of a daily meditation habit in relation to these four stages to create powerful change. I’ll give you the example of (TM) transcendental meditation as over the past nine years I have found it to be my No1 habit for health and energy.

STAGE ONE – YOU DON’T HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE

In this stage you have no idea about TM meditation; it’s not really on your radar and if someone mentioned it to you, you really wouldn’t know where to start.

STAGE TWO – YOU HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE

In this stage you know all about the benefits of TM meditation and you’ve attended the weekend TM meditation course of instruction. BUT, in terms of your health and energy there is no difference as to whether you are in stage one or two.

Think for a moment how many habits do you have knowledge of that you know are good for your health and energy but that you don’t actually practice, e.g. regular exercise, healthy eating, avoiding technology in the evening etc.?

STAGE THREE – YOU PRACTICE TM MEDITATION DAILY, IT IS YOUR HABIT

Your knowledge has now been translated into a daily habit and you are now feeling the benefits from your TM meditation habit. You go beyond thinking and contact the deep transcendental source of all your energy, creativity and intelligence, dissolving stress, improving sleep and enriching mind, body, emotions and relationships.

STAGE FOUR – YOU DEEPEN YOUR DAILY TM MEDITATION HABIT

The great thing about TM meditation is you start to feel the benefits almost instantly. In addition to these instant benefits, TM meditation holds an endless journey of riches. As time goes on you achieve greater levels of peace, deep stresses are dissolved from your system and you become deeply in tune with your instinct.

In saying this, it is important to practice TM meditation in the correct way as you would have been taught on the course; it is through this commitment to your practice that you will progress. Equally if you go through the motions and often find yourself simply sitting for 20 minutes with your eyes closed thinking about your day, you are not deepening your TM meditation practice.

So ask yourself these questions: What would you like to learn more about? What things do you know are good for your health and energy that it’s now time you put into practice? What positive habits do you have that you need to re-energise to take to the next level?

OLIVER GRAY

Oliver is an ex professional tennis player and personal trainer. He went on to manage 14 central London health clubs and qualified as a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner before founding EnergiseYou in 2004, the UK’s first health and energy corporate coaching business. Oliver is the Author of two published books - EnergiseYou and Feel Great.

DR ELISABETH PHILIPPS

Elisabeth has extensive knowledge of behaviour change and health. Her impressive background includes a BSc in Nutritional Medicine, BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences and a PhD (DPhil) from Oxford University in Anatomical Neuropharmacology.